Wednesday, March 30, 2011

nicknames for the girls

Homer and Louisa B. named their first daughter Lynn, with a "Y", and then when their next daughter was named Blythe, or maybe by the time their third daughter, Gayle, came along, they were pretty committed to having a Y in each of their girls' names. Might as well stick with it, right? It's sweet to see the camaraderie.

Their Lynn was my mama and I love her and miss her dearly. And I love that our first daughter was born on her birthday. Marian often goes by "May" in our home and I know she wasn't born in May and it would be more traditional to spell it with an E but we will spell it with that precious Y. It's important to tie her name to her grandma and her aunts that love her too. (And we love that May (美) in Chinese means 'beautiful' because we sure think she is.)

Early in the North Dakota spring of 1977, Dale and Mary K. met their first child, a baby boy, who would grow up thinking that his grandmother's name was simply the most beautiful a woman's name could be. Three months after he was born, I was born and given a name that rhymned with his favorite. When we grew up, I got to marry that boy and I do love him madly. And now that the first two girls in our family are Jillian and Marian we also had a tradition to uphold...

And so we have our new baby girl, Vivian, (chosen not just for the rhyme, but for the meaning) and we think it's cute how all our girl names match, but we know that it could be a bit much perhaps... so, just to keep our options open, she gets a great short name as well.

I am blessed to have some of the most tremendous friends in the world. Ladies that have blessed my life from toddler years through now. In high school, one of my dear friends, Vivianna, went by "Vivi" for short (pronounced like Vivian, just without the N). That our daughter can go by the same short name as this friend ties her, in my heart, to the whole group of girlfriends that are closest to me. I am so grateful for you dear friends, and so glad to have this loose, but still significant to me connection, for my girl to all of you.

And my mama, she knew my girlfriends well. I know she would be happy to call her second granddaughter by this name, remembering this friend, and that makes me so happy too!

the growth of hearts I'm most responsible for and cherish most, most of all... "only God gives the growth." I simply am unable to do what I need and want most of all. Oh to be fervent and wholly reliant on God in prayer.